Part 3, Chapters 13-16 Summary

Rostov is on picket duty, very sleepy, guarding his regiment. He thinks of the tsar and Natasha and his mother. He detects the enemy, tells Bagration and Dolgorukov, and they are impressed with him. He shrugs them off when they ask if he is his well-known father's son, but Rostov asks if he can be attached to the first squadron in the morning. The sun rises and the fog is thick, which only adds to the muddle. A dispute arises between the Austrian officers and the Russian general. When the sun finally emerges from the fog after 10 o'clock, the French are ready. Kutuzov is in a vile temper, snapping at everyone with whom he speaks, but he is glad to be away from the war council and actually doing something. Tsar Alexander stops by on his horse and cheers the soldiers on. A...